iPod shields, frozen wine cubes: the modern make do and mend

Friday 28 August 2009 06:34 BST

IT was first published in 1943, when food and clothes were rationed in the Second World War.

The Make Do and Mend pamphlet, published by the Ministry of Information, told you how to get by on one egg a week and how women could apply eyeliner to their legs to give the effect of wearing stockings.

Today John Lewis announced it had updated the guide for frugal living in the recession.

Instead of dealing with food rations, the modern Make Do and Mend contains advice on how to prolong the life of your iPod and how to save money on recordable CDs by reusing memory sticks.

The guide was written after the department store consulted 28,000 staff, some of whom John Lewis says were working in its stores when the original pamphlet was issued.

"We have become a nation doing our best to weave thrift with quality, and this guide is designed to help households to get the very best out of what they have," said John Lewis's managing director, Andy Street.

"Our lives are far more complicated than they were in the Forties and we've forgotten some of the basic principles that can save a lot of time and unnecessary expense."

The guide will be sold in store for £3, with all profits going to charity, and tips will also be posted on Twitter.

John Lewis also plans to run classes in the basics of sewing, dressmaking and bagmaking. Year on year the store's haberdashery sales are up 17 per cent, with fabric sales at their strongest in five years. Yarns and wool are up nine per cent, craft materials up 36 per cent and sewing machines up 30 per cent.

"We're witnessing a reawakening of interest in traditional skills, including creating and maintaining things," said Mr Street.

The guide will also look at more traditional problems, such as how to deal with moths (lavender, apparently), and how to remove scratches on a watch (toothpaste). The firm set up a testing lab in its Oxford Street store to try out the tips.

"It has been a fascinating exercise sifting through the advice and putting it to the test," said Christine Kasoulis, John Lewis's head of product development. "We've breathed new life into the original version to create a modern guide full of money-saving and sometimes counter-intuitive tips."